Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) Short Interest Up 8.3% in December

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,720,000 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the December 15th total of 5,280,000 shares. Approximately 6.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Fortrea Stock Performance

Fortrea stock opened at $17.69 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.17, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.24. Fortrea has a fifty-two week low of $16.53 and a fifty-two week high of $41.02.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $674.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.86 million. Fortrea had a negative net margin of 10.99% and a positive return on equity of 2.00%. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Fortrea will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Fortrea from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Baird R W downgraded Fortrea from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Fortrea from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Fortrea from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Fortrea from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortrea

In other news, CEO Thomas Pike sold 11,268 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.04, for a total value of $203,274.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,018.72. The trade was a 6.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortrea

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Fortrea by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Fortrea by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 41,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Fortrea by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortrea by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 97,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Fortrea by 102.4% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398 shares in the last quarter.

Fortrea Company Profile

Fortrea Holdings Inc, a contract research organization, primarily engages in the provision of biopharmaceutical product and medical device development services worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Clinical Services and Enabling Services. The Clinical Services segment provides across the clinical pharmacology and clinical development spectrum.